Organize, share, discover academic knowledge

Meet the API Team!

Keeping science open has always been part of Mendeley’s mission. There are many ways we achieve this, but our developer portal throws opens the Mendeley platform for developers to create and build tools to make researchers’ lives easier using Application Programming Interfaces — known as APIs. It is thanks to the Mendeley API that some of your favorite Mendeley third-party apps exist, like KinSync, PaperShip and Scholarley, to name a few. Even higher education is getting into the API game.

And now our API website has a fresh new look and a beta release. The team is currently working with a technical writer to improve the documentation, and are also busy trying to get SDKs out for mobile and other languages for a major release sometime later this year.

Think you’re ready to hack? Know any code monkeys interested in building tools to make researchers’ lives easier? Visit our Dev Portal to learn more and follow our brand-new Mendeley API blog. And meet the team behind the API in this months’ “Meet the Mendeley Team.”

Joyce Stack – Developer Outreach

Joyce Stack completed a BSc. (Hons) Computer Science from The Open University while working in a startup in Co. Cork, Ireland. She moved to London in 2005 to join one of the City’s leading exponents of agile techniques at that time to work as a Java Developer. She is now working in the Developer Outreach role in Mendeley.
Connect with her on Twitter @MendeleyStack

How do you describe your role on the API Team?

Mainly my role is to be the “physical manifestation” of the API at conferences, meetups and hackathons.

Also, my role is to ensure we are engaging with all our clients and potential clients on the main social channels e.g. Twitter, Stack Overflow, blogs, etc.

My main responsibilities are to build up an excellent developer experience and support people in building great apps and demonstrating the value of our dataset to new potential clients. Basically, engaging with our developer community to drive adoption. Also, I’m the conduit between clients, both internal and external into the platform team and product teams, from an API perspective.

What is your favourite part about working for Mendeley?

I get fed a lot. There is always a fridge full of food, ice-cream, fruit and drinks.

Primarily, though I was never one for endless iterations of work, I like the variety in this role. I get to wear many hats, e.g. product owner, support person, coder, debugger, marketing, blogger.

What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
Take trips away to new places (8 so far this year), drinking brown beer and keeping fit with boxercise, spinning and weights.

Matt Thomson – Senior Software Developer

Matt was born and grew up in Scunthorpe in the North of England. After graduating with an MMath from the University of Cambridge, he moved to London to join a telecommunications software provider, before joining the platform team at Mendeley in 2012.

How do you describe your role on the API Team?

I’m one of the developers of the Mendeley API, responsible for building new features, keeping the API running smoothly, and making sure that it meets the needs of all of our client developers, both internally and externally.

What is your favourite part about working for Mendeley?

The problems are challenging, our technology stack is exciting, and the people are friendly and supportive. I bet everyone says “the people”, though.

What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

I’m a big fan of live comedy, and performed improvised comedy for a number of years, most notably at the Edinburgh Fringe with London’s (now defunct) Fat Kitten Improv. I also enjoy exploring London’s green spaces and pubs, and am a long-suffering follower of Scunthorpe United.

Dr David Ingram —Principal Engineer

David’s background is a mix between working in the computer industry and academia — he has a PhD in operating systems, did post doc research in distributed systems, and worked for both AT&T Labs and Google.

How do you describe your role on the API Team?

My role is currently to look at the API both from within and from external client perspectives. I try to make sure the most important client needs are met while keeping the implementation clean and maintainable.

What is your favourite part about working for Mendeley?

The best thing about Mendeley is our goal, to improve the productivity of researchers everywhere.